In The Chamber
by ricetard
Summary: While Harry was up in the Ravenclaw tower, Ron and Hermione were somewhere in the sewers... Ron/Hermione, oneshot, canon but obviously not mine , please excuse innaccuracies; it's been a while XD


"Quickly, we don't have that much time!" Hermione said as she and Ron rushed out of the Room of Requirement. Ron was about to follow her out of the room, when suddenly they were stopped.

"And where are you two going?"

They turned around to see Ginny lurking behind them. Ron's eyes went wide, as he said to her,

"Ginny, Hermione and I, you can't come with us, we need to go--"

"Find Harry?" she asked, looking between them. Hermione and Ron glanced at each other, and agreed silently to be honest with her.

"No, Ginny, we're going to the girls' bathroom," Hermione replied, before pulling on Ron's hand. "Now come _on_, Ron!"

Ginny looked like she didn't know if she should have taken them seriously or not, but the two of them fled the place as quickly as possible, not looking behind to her. Hermione led them around the halls and corners, up and down staircases, and muttering under her breath, while Ron said, calling out to her, "Hermione! _Hermione_! Slow down!""

"We can't afford to slow down!" she said back to him, making her way through corridors. "No, not this one—not this one either—where _is_ it?!"

"Why are we going to fast? Why are you running?" Ron asked, half out of breath. Hermione sighed as they rounded another corner to an unfamiliar hallway.

"Because we need to come back before—" she responded frantically, before a thought struck her brain. "But _damn_, if Harry comes back and we're gone—"

"Oh," Ron said suddenly, remembering quickly to only moments before when he had suggested for them to get the basilisk fangs since they could perish Horcruxes, and Hermione had been eager to get there as quickly as possible. "Then-Then isn't it just near that wall?"

"But of _course_!" Hermione looked like she was going to start hitting herself for being so stupid. She sprinted down another hall, up a staircase, through a doorway and down the corridor, before turning left to an all-familiar place. "Here we are!"

The bathroom hadn't changed much since they had last been there, although a great deal cleaner. Moaning Myrtle wasn't there, however, but that was probably because of the war. They looked around for a minute, before Hermione asked Ron,

"So, how do you we get in there?"

"Ah—um, you're asking me?" Ron said cluelessly.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Well yes, considering you were actually there while I was in the Hospital Wing, half-cat, if you can't remember. You and Harry had gotten in, right?"

"W-Well yeah," Ron replied.

"So how do we do it?" she asked him expectantly.

"Well, Harry had used Parseltongue," Ron said to her. But after seeing her face fall at this, he quickly added, "B-But I remember what it sounded like! Maybe I could try imitating him, and see if we can get in."

"Go on, try," Hermione encouraged.

Ron then proceeded to attempt out a rather strangled hiss, even though his mind was filled with doubt as his flicked his tongue to the roof of his mouth. The sink didn't react. He hesitated after this failure, but then Hermione squeezed his hand (she was still holding it?) reassuringly and smiled at him. So Ron tried again, this time with more confidence—and suddenly, the sink groaned and opened as if Ron's Parseltongue was as natural as anything else.

"You did it!" Hermione squealed, jumping up to hug him before hovering over the tunnel. Ron turned red when she released him, but there was a rather pleased expression on his face.

"I guess I did," he murmured to himself, as she started to climb on the edge of the hole.

"So, do we just slide into it?" she asked him, peering down to the darkness. Her voice echoed through the shadows, and Ron retreated a little.

"Um, yeah," he said.

Hermione glanced back at him, before gesturing down to the tunnel, as she dangled her legs. "Well, come on then!"

She went in first, slipping in and letting out a little shriek as she went down. A small thump was heard, silence, and then her voice calling up, "Come down, Ron!"

Ron gulped and peered in dangerously. But then he reminded himself—Hermione _needed_ him. As confident and courageous as she was and seemed to be, he knew that he was supposed to be there to protect her, whether she needed it or not. He couldn't abandon her again. So he sat down as well, took a deep breath, closed his eyes and fell in.

The ride was dark, brief and disbelieving as he slid, with the wind blowing in his face. He landed on a lump of familiar bones, and got up from the ground, groaning a bit.

Hermione was hovering above his face when he looked up. "Come _on_ Ron!" she said again, tugging at his arm. She pulled him up as he managed to get his strength back, and together, the two of them ran down the sewers.

"It was actually rather nice, obscurely thinking, but calming and relaxing alone by themselves. They were on a mission, yes, to get the basilisk fangs, to help destroy the Horcruxes and save the world, but now Ron and Hermione were together alone, away from the world, in their own little one. Reality was millions of kilometers away. Their runs slowed down to jogs while they made their way through the large pipes of the sewer, until they were eventually walking. Nothing above could be heard; all that was with them was the slow dripping of the water and their steadied, soft breathing.

"Ron?" Hermione asked after a while, and surprised, Ron turned to her.

"Yeah?"

"Do you… do you think things will turn out all right? In the end?" she asked.

"Well." Ron didn't know how to respond. He didn't want to discourage her, but negative thoughts already swam in his mind. "Not everyone's going to live, you know."

"I know that," Hermione replied, though this realization struck a shocked and upset expression on her face. "But… but will the war be over?"

Ron knew she meant if they would win, if Harry would win. But he couldn't' promise to her something he didn't know for sure. "Let's hope so."

They arrived at the familiar (to Ron, at least) clearing where the dead, five-year old basilisk lay. Hermione stared at it in disgust and awe, as Ron suppressed a flinch.

"Let's get its fangs as fast as we can and leave," she said to him.

He nodded. "Good idea."

They bent down the corpse and started gathering them up, for they had either fallen out or were rather loose in the snake's mouth already. Hermione started gathering them in the skirt of her robe, and said, "How many should we get?"

"As much as we can carry, I guess," Ron said, tucking some under his arms.

They picked up the biggest ones they could find, and as many as they could hold (though that was actually a rather lot, to both of their surprise) until only a few more were left. Then they turned to go on their way towards the exit of the chamber, making their way back to the loudness of the world.

Ron looked to Hermione again, and saw that her eyes were clouded with worry, while the silence that had been in them was starting to go away the more they walked. He didn't want her to be so depressed, so sad; Hermione had always been hopeful before. He stopped in the middle of the tunnel, and Hermione stopped as well when she noticed.

"Ron?" she said, looking back to him

"'Mione," he said, watching her. "Before we go back up, I want you to promise me something."

Hermione frowned and furrowed her eyebrows. "What?"

"No matter what happens," Ron said, managing to keep his hold on the basilisk fangs, "whether we win or not, whether we end up living or dying, I want you to promise me that _we_—you and me—and this world that we have together, will stay. With us. No matter how it turns out."

Hermione looked down, then looked up, and Ron saw that there were tears in her eyes. "What if—" she choked, and then sniffed a bit. "Ron, we don't—we don't _know_ what's going to happen, we can only hope that Harry's going to win, but we—I can't—"

"_Promise me_," Ron repeated.

Hermione managed to wipe away a tear with the sleeve o her shoulder, before going up to stare back at him. "I promise," she whispered, her mouth only so far away from his.

They stood there for a moment, before turning around and going on thee rest of their way back up to everything else. But a little peace had been created between them, and small smile was on Ron's face as they almost reached the surface.

Right before they neared the end of the tunnel, Hermione, who had been in front of Ron, turned around to face him. She didn't' say anything, and Ron was wondering why she had stopped, but then she leaned in a little and pecked him on the cheek, before going back to face in front of her, a slight pink in her cheeks. Ron stood there for a moment, a bit astonished at what had happened, but then a satisfied smile slid on his face, and he followed after her, and the two of them left the chamber.


End file.
